This charter he got confirmed by Pope Alexander the Third, when he assisted, with three other English Bishops, at the council of Latuan, A. D. 1176." He also took great pains, besides his elegant additions to the cathedral, to ornament the city by several public structures: he built Elvet Bridge, and rebuilt the borough of that name, which had been destroyed by Cumin and his adherents: he constructed the city wall from the Gaol-Gate to the Water-Gate, part of which is still remaining; and re-edified the castle, which had been destroyed by fire: the Boldon Buke, now remaining in the auditor's office, was compiled by his order, and has been admitted as evidence in all cases, to ascertain the ecclesiastical property of the Diocese.

The Castle seems to have remained in the Crown; for when Henry the Third granted his consent to the election of Richard Poore, Bishop of Sarum, to this See, he excepted the possession of the Castles of Durham and Norham. This pious and learned Prelate, by an agreement with the convent, made several regulations concerning the privileges of the two boroughs of Durham and Elvet, with respect to civil authority, weights, measures, &c. In the reign of Henry the Third, it appears, that Durham had a royal and pala tinate mintage within itself, which Edward the First, on his acces sion to the Crown, made a point of reforming.

After the death of Robert de Insula, Bishop of the See from 1274 to 1283, William Wickwane, Archbishop of York, during the vacancy, attempted to harrass the convent by visitorial pretensions, which he carried to such a height of arrogance, as to scandalize his office and character. On his arrival at the city, the eighth of July, to exercise his supposed right of visitation, the cathedral doors were shut against him; and he proceeded to the Church of St. Nicholas, to pronounce excommunication against the Prior and his brethren; but some youths of the city having intelligence of his proceedings, resorted to the church, and opposed him in so clamorous and violent a manner, that the Archbishop, in terror, receded from his purpose, and was put in such apprehension for his person, that, escaping from the pulpit, he fled down the stairs which led to the schools, and used every expedi

tion, till he got to the river side near Kypier. The Archbishop carried his resentment so far, that, at the consecration of Bishop Beck, on the ninth of January following, he obliged the Prior to leave York Cathedral; and enjoined the new Bishop, upon his declaration of canonical obedience, to excommunicate the Prior, and the heads of the convent: but Beck refused; observing, "I was consecrated their Bishop yesterday, and shall I excommunicate them to day? No profession of obedience shall induce me to so inconsistent an act.”

On Bruce's incursion, in the reign of Edward the Second, a party of his army surprised the suburbs of Durham whilst the inhabitants were in their beds, and reduced them to ashes.

This city exhibited a singular scene of festivity on the promotion of Richard de Bury, or Aungerville, to the Bishopric in 1333. He entertained, on this occasion, in the great hall of his palace, Edward the Third, and his Queen, the Queen Dowager, King of Scotland, the two Metropolitans, and five Bishops, seven Earls and their ladies, all the Nobility north of Trent, with a vast concourse of Knights, Abbots, Priors, &c. It was in this year that Edward gained the famous battle of Hallidown Hill. This Monarch again visited the city in 1356, and issued summonses for the military tenants to attend him, previously to the siege and surrender of Berwick.

Bishop Hatfield, successor to De Bury, was a great benefactor to the church and city. In 1377, he granted a toll on certain merchandize brought to Durham, to defray the charges of paving, and repairing the city walis. Letters patent were likewise granted by him "to William de Elmedon, gaoler and porter of the Castle, with certain profits annexed to the office, among which are fees for sealing the measures to be used in the city.

In the third year of the reign of Henry the Sixth, Durham again became a scene of festivity, on the marriage of James, King of Scotland, with Jane of Somerset, grand-daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, as well as James's cousin, in 1424. In March, this year, the royal pair arrived, attended by a number of the English nobility of the first rank, and were met by a vast

train of the most illustrious personages from Scotland. and Queen staid here till the beginning of April.

The King

On the anniversary of the installation of Bishop Fox, July 23d. 1503, he entertained, in his palace at Durham, the Princess Margaret, daughter of Henry the Seventh, who was on her progress into Scotland, to espouse King James. John Young, Somerset Herald, who attended the Princess, has related, among other circumstances, the particulars of her reception in this city: "The xxth day of the said monneth the Quene departed from Darnton in fayr aray, and with the precedente companye went to the towne of Durham. A mylle out of the said towne, cam before hyr Syr Richard Stanley and my lady his wyffe, accompanyd of gentylmen and gentylwomen vary well appoynted, hys folks arayed in hys liveray, to the nombre of 1. horsys, well mounted.

"Then the Quene prepared herselfe to enter into the said towne, and every ychon in lyk wys, in fayr aray, and rychly, after the manere acostomed. In specyall the Erle of Northumberland ware on a goodly gowne of tynsill fourred with hermynes. He was mounted upon a fayr courser, hys harnays of goldsmyth warke, and through that sam was sawen small bells that maid a mellodyous noyse, without sparing gambads. Hys gentylmen of honor and hys company wer well appoynted.

"At the intryng of the said towne, and within, in the streytts and in the wyndowes, was so innumerable people, that it was a fayr thing for to se. And in fayr ordre she was conveyd to the church, the officers of armes, sergeants of armes, trompetts, and mynstrells going before hyr.

"At the gatt of the church was my lord the Byschop of the sayd place, and my lord the Prior, revested in pontificalls, with the convent all revested of ryches coppe, in processyon, with the crossys. And ther was apoynted a place for to kisse them.

"Then the sayd processyon departed in ordre, and all the noblesse in lyke wys, to the Church, in whiche way to the fount was a ryche awter, adorned of ryches, jwells, and precyowses relikes, the wich the said Byschop delivered to the said Qwene to kiss: and by the Erle of Surrey was gyffyn hyr offrynge. After this VOL. V. JAN. 1804. C

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sche was noble conveyd to the castell, wher hyr lodging was prepared and drest honestly. And every ychon retourned agayn to hys repayre.

"The xxist, xxiid, and xxiiid days of the said monneth sche sejourned in the said place of Durham, wher sche was well cheryscht, and hyr costs borne by the said Byschop; who on the xxiiid day held holle hall, and dowble dynner and dowble soupper to all commers worthy for to be ther. And in the said hall was set all the noblesse, as well spiritualls as temporalls, grett and small, the wich was welcome; for this was hys day of installacyon.

"The xxiiiith day of the said monneth the Qwene departed from Durham, accompanied of hyr noble company, as she had beene in the days past, in fayr manere and good ordre, for to come to the towne of the New-Castele."

The suppression of the rebellion of the Nevilles', in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, occasioned a scene of horror in Durham; not fewer than sixty-six persons being executed to satisfy the brutality of Sir George Bowes, who boasted, that in a tract of country, sixty miles in length, and forty in breadth, betwixt Newcastle and Wetherby, there was scarcely a town or village wherein he had not sacrificed some of the inhabitants!

In the years 1416 and 1589, Durham was visited by that dreadful scourge, the plague, which raged for a considerable time. In 1597, it again returned, with such violence, that the poorer inhabitants were compelled to live in huts on Elvet Moor, and the adjoining commons, where the marks of arrangement of the cells were to be traced till very lately.

In the year 1633, Charles the First resided at Durham, on his progress to Scotland, and was entertained by the amiable and pious Bishop Morton, whose expences in one day amounted to 15001. The virtuous life, and extensive charities, of this learned, compassionate and persecuted Bishop, are still remembered with respect and gratitude. After a variety of sufferings, and unjust accusations, by the Parliament adherents, during the Civil Wars, he found an asylum in the family of Sir Christopher Yelverton, his political enemy, to whose son he became tutor.

During the time of the Commonwealth and Protectorate, an attempt was made to establish a University at Durham; the particulars concerning which have been thus related by Mr. Pennant. "On the thirteenth of April, 1649, the Parliament passed an act for abolishing of Deans, Deans and Chapters, Canons, Prebends, and all other titles and offices of or belonging to any Cathedral or Collegiate Church, or Chapel, within England and Wales; and the name and function of Dean, Sub-Dean, Chapter, &c. are thereby taken away; and all their honors, manors, lands, &c. together with their charters, deeds, books, court-rolls, &c. adjudged and taken to be in the real and actual possession and seizure of Trustees, therein named, in trust, to be disposed of by Parliament.

"May the seventh, 1650, a petition was presented to the Par liament, from the gentlemen, freeholders, and inhabitants of the county of Durham, praying, that an establishment of Courts of Justice might be had there; and that the College or Houses of the Dean and Chapter, being then empty, and in decay, might be employed in erecting a College, School, or Academy, for the benefit of the Northern Counties, which were so far from the Universities; and that part of the Lands of the said Dean and Chapter near the city, might be set out by Trustees for pious uses.'

"Besides this petition, others of a similar kind were sent from the county of Northumberland, and from the town and county of Newcastle upon Tyne; which were referred to a Committee, to state the business, and to report their opinions touching the desires of the county. The Committee reported, that they so far approved thereof, as that they were of opinion, that the said Houses were a fit place to erect a College, or School, for all the sciences and literature; and that it would be a pious and laudable work, and of great use to the northern parts.'

"In 1656, an order was made, by Oliver Cromwell, the Lord. Protector, and his Privy Council, for founding and endowing a College at Durham, out of the Dean and Chapter's Lands there. Of this scheme Oliver had been a strenuous promoter, as appears by a letter of his yet extant, dated March the 11th, 1650, addressed

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